


Careful What you Wish For

by DraconisWinters



Series: Wonderful Wishes [2]
Category: LinkedUniverse - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Dreams vs. Reality, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Gen, Maybe Death?, ticking clock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-07 14:35:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18412634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DraconisWinters/pseuds/DraconisWinters
Summary: Warrior was at a loss. The others had been asleep for nearly three days and nothing could wake them up. He had tried everything cold water to screaming but nothing would work. Warrior collapsed on the tree stump he had fallen asleep on three nights ago and his head fell into his hands. “It’s all my fault. I did this to them,” Warrior whispered brokenly, “This is all because of me.”





	Careful What you Wish For

Warrior was at a loss. The others had been asleep for nearly three days and nothing could wake them up. He had tried everything cold water to screaming but nothing would work. Warrior collapsed on the tree stump he had fallen asleep on three nights ago and his head fell into his hands. “It’s all my fault. I did this to them,” Warrior whispered brokenly, “This is all because of me.”

He looked over to the others. Their skin was still a darkened grey but now each of the heroes began to possess marks reflecting their journeys. Wild’s facial scaring was chipping away to reveal the bone beneath and Warrior had to swallow the urge to vomit when it began happening last night. Lines had slowly begun to carve their way through Four’s face beginning to divide him into four separate beings. The lines had turned to open gashes sometime within the night as Warrior was sleeping. Having woken to the horrific sight, Warrior had to hold in a scream of terror.

Twilight’s left wrist had darkened and decayed as though something was wrapped around it, stopping the blood flow to that part of his body. The skin had peeled off a while back and the muscle had been deteriorating every since. Wind breathing had progressively become more and more shallow as though he was slowly drowning. Warrior had jolted up earlier this morning, thinking the child had stopping breathing altogether. Wind had not stopped yet, but it could happen any minute now.

Sky’s body was sprawled and failed out on the ground. Every once in a while Warrior would hear a snap causing the man to flinch, as he knew it was another one of Sky’s bones snapping. It was a though he feel from high up in the air, but instead of all of his bones breaking at once, it was a slow and painful process. Hyrule had deep gashes and scratches that slowly materialized and carved their way into his skin. The gashes ran deep and Warrior could see Hyrule’s bones if he looked hard enough.

Legend’s body was sunken and caving into the ground he was laying upon, slowly seeping into the grass. Warrior, panicked when he first saw it, tried to pull Legend off the ground, but was burned as soon as he touched his fellow hero. In fact, his hands were still red and raw from trying to move the others, only to have similar results. The entire left side of Time’s face had decade and peeled off and while the others skin was mostly a dark grey, Time’s had turned to a dark shadowy black.

He was desperate. He needed the others. Warrior stood and made his way over to their alleged leader, collapsing next to him. Despite knowing the consequence, Warrior had to try once more. He reached out to touch Time and attempted to wake him up once again. As soon as Warrior’s hand touched Time’s arm a shriek erupted form the man’s throat. It was as though, Time’s skin radiated heat similar to that of Death Mountain. Warrior pushed himself away and looked at his hand which was steaming.

He couldn’t feel his fingers. Panic began to set in. If he can’t feel his fingers, he can’t hold a sword. If he can’t hold a sword, he can’t fight and what use is a warrior if they can’t fight? Warrior attempted to move his fingers but they would not budge. His breathing began to speed up. He couldn’t feel them. He could move them. He was alone. He didn’t know what to do. He…He didn’t know what to do!

Warrior never thought he would miss the others, but in this moment he would give anything to have Time glare at him for doing something stupid. To laugh alongside Legend and Twilight. To groan in annoyance as Hyrule drags Sky off and the two get lost, only to be found hours upon hours later as Time yells at them, yet frets over their wellbeing at the same time. To be the older brother to Wind and honestly Wild, who’s amnesia left him in a more child-like state, often starring at new things for hours, attempting to make sense of the world around him.

Damnit!

He had become too reliant on the others and now they were gone. Or at least would soon be…Tears slowly began falling from the man’s eyes and he whispered, “I wish I could fix this.”

“Are you willing to do what it takes?”

Warrior jumped looking around for the source of the voice. It was the same eerie tone as three days ago. “Yes. I will do whatever it takes!” Warrior responded desperately. There was no response from the mysterious voice. Warrior’s hope deflated and his body shriveled inward. So this is how it ends. The heroes of courage die to his own stupidity.

“So you say. Very well, I shall allow you to try. But if you fail to bring one back, they all die.”

Warrior’s head shot up and he instantly nodded, “How do I bring them back?”

“I believe you already know, they are merely dreaming after all.”

Warrior’s eyes widen. He had to wake them up, but how? He had already tried everything. The man stood and looked over the prone bodies of the other heroes. If he took too long they would die anyway, but what had he not already tried.

“Tick Tock Hero.”

Warrior looked over to Hyrule. He had to try again. The man gulped as he walked over to the deeply gashed and torn form of Hyrule. Warrior had an inkling of an idea, an amazingly stupid idea. He sat down next to his friend. “Grin and bear it,” Warrior whispered to himself, “Just grin and bear it. You go them into this, time to get them out.” And with a slight grimace Warrior, fully embraced him fallen companion.

Before the pain could fully set in, Warrior was standing, with Hyrule no longer in his arms. The man looked around confused. The others were no longer here either. He was standing in a bright and cheerful forest. Warrior jumped at the sound of happy whistling somewhere close to him. Turning, Warrior gasped in shock. Hyrule was merrily skipping down the path to the beat of his own song. The hero looked completely fine, no injures, just joy. He was happy and Warrior was about to ruin it.

As Hyrule approached Warrior could see that his eyes were no longer a bright vibrant chocolate brown, but were now a dull grey filled with fake happiness. Warrior’s heart hurt seeing his friend stuck like this.

Hyrule stopped before him and looked him over with confusion, “Warrior, what are you doing here?”

Warrior gritted his teeth together before forcing out, “Look, ‘Rule, you have to wake up. This isn’t real.”

“I am awake Warrior, maybe you should lie down or something, you seem a bit agitated, is everything else alright with the others?” Hyrule asks. Warrior can tell the man was faking politeness and was mostly feeling pity.

Pushing past that however, Warrior continued, “No, everything is not alright with the others. We need you Hyrule.”

Hyrule’s eyes widen in surprise before darkening with anger. Warrior took a step back in shock, having never seen the man angry before.

“You sure you need a hero who always needs a babysitter? Who can’t go ten minutes without getting lost?” He hissed venomously, “Why should I go with you Warrior? I’m perfectly fine where I am, happy even-!”

“Because even if the others don’t need you, I want you Hyrule!” Warrior exclaimed in desperation, “I don’t want the wielder of the magic sword or the Hero of Hyrule.” His exclamations turned to pleas, “I just want you! Please.”

The murky grey of Hyrule’s eyes began clearing and Warrior could see speckles of brown peaking through as Hyrule whispered, “You want me? Like…me?”

Warrior nodded, “I don’t care how many times I have to say it to drive it through you, I need you to come with me.”

“O-okay,” Hyrule nodded, eyes clearing.

Warrior beamed with joy and tackled Hyrule, wrapping him in a tight embrace.

When he opened his eyes again, Warrior was back in the camp with Hyrule who was weakly sitting up.

“What happened?” Hyrule asked voice raspy and dry.

Warrior waved off his concern, handing him a pouch of water from nearby with his unburnt hand. “I’ll explain later, I have to wake the others up,” Warrior said standing.

Hyrule then looks over the others and gasped, pouch falling from his hand, “Did-Did I-,” his voice dies of in shock seeing the mauled state of their companions. Warrior nodded sadly. Hyrule’s hand shot up to his mouth in shock as he examined the others. “I-I can help…” He insisted but Warrior shook his head,

“I think it has to be me.”

Hyrule looked down, sad at his inability to help.

“You can help them once they wake up,” Warrior said in attempt to ease the hero’s concern. Hyrule nodded in agreement.

Warrior looked over to Twilight who was close to Hyrule.

“I’ll be back with Twi,” Warrior said with confidence, more to convince Hyrule, than himself. Kneeling next to the farmer, Warrior takes a deep breath and places his hand on the part of Twilight’s arm that has been blackened away.

Similar to Hyrule, Warrior found himself no longer at their camp, but in a strange place. Except this time there was no forest. In fact, there was nothing for miles. Just an empty abyss. “Twilgiht?” Warrior called out in confusion. Was this what made him happy? Nothing?

“Why are you here Warrior?”

Warrior turns, only to see Twilight standing there hand-in-hand with a woman Warrior felt he had met before. Twilight’s eyes were a pale sickly grey rather deep blue he had grown accustomed to. And that woman where had he…Then it hit him, the Twili princess who had helped him in his journey after being pulled out of her own time.

Wait…was this Twilight’s complicated situation? Noticing that Twilight was waiting for a response, Warrior stuttered, “Oh, um, yeah. I came to get you-,”

“Is there a situation with the others?” Twilight asked, worry clear and his eyes already attempting to change back to their original color.

“Darling, I’m sure that they can handle it without you, just stay here, with me,” The woman cooed and Warrior shook his head,

“Twilight, open your eyes! You know this isn’t real! This some kind of mystical spell put on you and you hate magic!”

Twilight shook his head and brought his hand up to rub his eyes, “You know Warrior, for an idiot, you can be pretty smart sometimes.”

The woman looked at Twilight appalled, “But, my love-,”

“You are not Midna, mostly because she would never talk to me for five seconds without complaining or insulting me,” Twilight growled taking a step back, blue eyes shining brightly. Soon the scene darkened and Warrior was back at camp. Leaving Hyrule to deal with the flustered Twilight, Warrior rushed to Four. How many hours had passed? Did he still have enough time?

Pushing the thoughts aside Warrior entered the tiny heroes dream and saw four simply sitting there alone, smile on his face. “Um, Four…You okay?” Warrior asked nervously.

“Of course Warrior. In fact, I’ve never been better. I couldn’t even remember how peaceful silence was. To just sit back and be able to hear your own thoughts. It’s nice.”

“Yeah, it can be,” Warrior said, not understanding what Four was implicating…Oh, Four-Four sword-Four bodies. Warrior winced, it must be difficult having four opinions on everything. Silence would be something greatly appreciated.

“And I mean, I know you guys never said anything, but I could feel the looks when I would argue with ‘myself’,” Four sighed.

Warrior felt guilt bubble up inside of him. He had given Four strange looks in the past. “Well, that doesn’t matter because we know you for who you are and all and…we care about you no matter what! Four bodies, one body, half a body, even if you had twenty-seven bodies that you had to constantly talk to we’d love and care about you.” Warrior walked over to Four who was looking up at him hopefully.

“And you know, between you and me, having Four bodies isn’t only the weird quirk of our group, so I think you blend right in.”

Four smiled gratefully but before Warrior could blink he was back at the camp. Looking into the sky he could see that the sun was beginning to set. It had been all day and he had only saved three of them? No! He couldn’t afford to think like that. Actually the man couldn’t afford to think at all as the time continued to wear on.

Warrior rushed over to the next person not even realizing who it was until he was absorbed into their dream. Wild.

The young man was sitting on a Cliffside next to a beautiful zora woman who was smiling brightly as the hero. Warrior gulped, she was one of the champions that had died in Wild’s time.

Warrior hated to ruin this for the boy, but if he didn’t Wild would die.

“Wild, come on! We have to get back to the others!” Warrior called, trying to get a reaction from the solider that he knew was instinctively drilled into Wild.

“Do you truly want a failure of a hero to stand with you and the others Warrior?” Wild responded, voice soft as ever.

“Wild, you are not a failure. So what if there was a small bump in the road? You still came out on top and killed Ganon’s ass while doing it! You are one of the few people I trust at watch my back in battle,” Warrior’s insisted.

“You placed your trust poorly then,” Wild said, refusing to look at Warrior.

“No. No, I did not. I know a hero when I see one and you, sir, are a hero. Now come on, the others need you. And if not for fighting then at least for cooking. After all, I don’t want ‘Died from food poisoning’ on my gravestone cause one of the others tried to cook,” Warriors pleaded.

Wild snorted at his horrible joke and said, “I guess. Don’t really want you all to die.”

Warrior didn’t spare a moment moving from Wild to Sky, once the pyromaniac opened his eyes. Entering into Sky’s dream, Warrior felt like he was experiencing one of Sky’s stories of Skyloft in person. Everything was just as the man said it would be. The Skylofitian himself was over off to the side calmly stroking the feathers of a bright red bird.

“Sky, I’m sorry, but we need to leave!” Warrior called breaking Sky out of his thoughts.

Sky looked to him confused, “Why would I leave, this is my home?”

“Sky, Skyloft is gone. Deep down you know this. Deep down, you know this isn’t real,” Warriors said and his heart panged at the broken look given to him by Sky.

“No-no it’s not!” Sky protested “I can’t be, we’re standing in it right now.”

“This isn’t real Sky,” Warriors lamented, “You know its not.”

Sky shook his head frantically but his panicked movements cause the bird who was next to him to take off and fly away. “No!” Sky screamed sorrowfully, “Come back!” But the bird did not listen.

“I know it can be hard Sky, but you have to move on.”

Sky turned to Warrior, unshed tears brimming in his eyes as he whimpered, “Okay.”

Leaving Sky for the others to handle, Warrior, full of exhaustion, crawled over to Wind.

Opening his eyes in Wind’s dream, Warrior saw he was on a beautiful tropical island. Looking around the man saw small huts on the island and a small dock down on the beach for boats. A simple little island, rather homey, if Warrior was honest with himself.

“Warrior?”

The man turned around to see Wind behind him with a little girl trotting along next to him.

“Wind you need to come with me!” Warrior cried, not bothering with tact. His time was still running out and he needed to get through these last few as quickly as possible, he could not let them die.

“Can it wait a bit Warrior?” Wind asked, “I’m with family right now after all.”

“Wind this isn’t your family or at least, its not the real them. This is a dream, they are allusions meant to keep you from waking up,” Warrior insisted.

Wind looked over to his sister who was smiling at him brightly, too brightly. No one can naturally smile like that. “How do I know you’re not lying?” Wind asked skeptically.

“Come with me and you will see,” Warrior said and Wind complied.

Warrior forced his body to move over to Legend. Looking down at Legend, Warrior cannot help but wonder what he is about to see. Legend has been on far more adventures then Warrior himself so who knows what the man’s true happiness would be.

Entering into Legend’s dream, Warrior held in a curse seeing Legend’s uncle who had died long ago. The two were happily sword fighting and mild banter was tossed in between the two fighters.

Warriror approached Legend regret already building up in his stomach. As he got close to the hero, Legend whipper around and Warrior back away at the oncoming sword.

“You should know better than to sneak up on me,” Legend laughs seeing Warrior standing in from of him.

Warrior sighs before saying, “Legend…this isn’t real.”

However, instead of protesting like the others, Legend looked down in sorrow, whispering, “I know.”

Warriors eyes widened in surprise, but before he could comment, Legend sighed, “I know it’s not real. I know he’s dead. But I don’t want him to be. I just want it to be like this, me and him, just us.” Legend’s voice cracked and his eyes began to water, “But I-I just…I want him back Warrior. I want my family.”

Warrior looked at his fellow hero sadly before bringing him into a tender embrace. “I know we could never replace him, but just remember, we’re your family too.” Warrior pretended not to feel the shoulder of his shirt becoming wet from Legends silent tears.

And like that the two were back at the camp and there was only one left.

Legend quickly dried his tears seeing the others around, and Warrior said, “I’ll be back with the old man.” His statement brought a smile to some of the boy’s faces.

Warriors sighed and entered into Time’s dream. His mind and body were so tired, but he had to keep going, just one more and this would all be fixed. All he had to do was convince Time to leave. He could do that. He could.

Opening his eye’s in Time’s dream felt like Warrior was back at Lon Lon Ranch. He quickly spotted Time in the distance with a fake version of Malon standing beside him laughing and exchanging conversation.

“Hey Time!” Warrior called, eager for this monster of a problem to end, “We have to go back to the others!”

From where he was standing, Warrior could see Time freeze and physically stiffen. Time turned towards Warrior, eyes completely blackened to the point where his eye lost its natural bright blue color and the white was no longer visible through the black and a single word passed through his lips, slamming into Warrior like a pact of rampaging lynels,

“No.”


End file.
